TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Su Tseng-chang called on Chinese leaders Thursday to improve their understanding of public opinion in Taiwan.

He made the remarks in a response to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s opening speech at the Communist Party’s 18th Congress in Beijing, during which he reiterated China’s opposition to Taiwan Independence.

Su said he hoped China’s leadership could take a more open attitude to see and understand Taiwan’s public opinion in order to promote the stable and peaceful development of mutual relations.

The differences between Taiwan and China were a fact that was impossible to avoid in contacts between both sides of the Taiwan Straits, Su said, emphasizing the island’s status as a sovereign and independent nation.

Taiwan’s mainstream opinion was a fact of life that China could not avoid either, Su added.

Even though Hu’s report did not feature anything new about the cross-straits issue, Su said the DPP advocated that both sides should interact with confidence.

After the January presidential and parliamentary elections, the DPP said it needed to increase its understanding of China by fostering more contacts.

Former party chairman and presidential candidate Frank Hsieh visited Fujian Province and Beijing in early October. In the Chinese capital, he met with Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Wang Yi, China’s top cross-straits negotiator Chen Yunlin and State Council member Dai Bingguo, one of the country’s top experts on foreign relations and national security issues.

Prominent DPP members applauded Hsieh’s trip as a groundbreaking move, though some criticized him for making proposals that seemed to contradict the party’s pro-independence stance.

Hsieh has been named as a potential candidate to head a yet-to-be-formed Chinese Affairs Committee within the DPP. Su said after Hsieh’s trip that there was no need to hurry with establishing the new body.

Media reports said Hsieh was planning to visit China again next year. While not completely excluding the possibility, he said there were no such plans at the moment.

Several Chinese officials visited a DPP policy unit in Taipei Wednesday, though the party said the invitation was not part of efforts to increase contacts with the Communist Party.

The visitors included Wu Jinglian, one of China’s top economists, a Taiwan Affairs Office department head, and Wang Qing, a researcher at the State Council, reports said.